This is an interesting argument because we protect animals we believe to be pets and slaughter the ones we believe to be food.

I am not a vegetarian, but I believe that as a society we have become lazy about our actions. It is true that the smallest habits can make very large dent in our environment and our society. Because we don't witness the impact, we believe those who are passionate about the problems to be exaggerating. Even our methods of slaughter have become sloppy in some areas, and that is a good question too...if we are murdering animals why murder them nicely?

I suppose this is a very unorganized answer, but to me a lot goes hand in hand. I really don't know the answer to this question...because it is hard to answer. Is it right to kill 20,000 cows a day and throw out hundreds of unused meat? Is it right to cut down more forests to allow more cattle slaughter to accommodate the burst in small business restaurants? Is it right to add chemicals and toxins to our food in order to accommodate the grocery stores that are opening up? Is it right to throw out what will not bring income, is it that wrong to donate for no reason?

Unnecessary wrote:This is an interesting argument because we protect animals we believe to be pets and slaughter the ones we believe to be food.

I am not a vegetarian, but I believe that as a society we have become lazy about our actions. It is true that the smallest habits can make very large dent in our environment and our society. Because we don't witness the impact, we believe those who are passionate about the problems to be exaggerating. Even our methods of slaughter have become sloppy in some areas, and that is a good question too...if we are murdering animals why murder them nicely?

I suppose this is a very unorganized answer, but to me a lot goes hand in hand. I really don't know the answer to this question...because it is hard to answer. Is it right to kill 20,000 cows a day and throw out hundreds of unused meat? Is it right to cut down more forests to allow more cattle slaughter to accommodate the burst in small business restaurants? Is it right to add chemicals and toxins to our food in order to accommodate the grocery stores that are opening up? Is it right to throw out what will not bring income, is it that wrong to donate for no reason?

You are correct that your post covers many topics superficially. One place to start is to parse the difference between: "right" and "legal". There are plenty of things that are wrong but not illegal. In fact of all of the things that are wrong, most are legal (or at least not illegal).

It has been said that in certain primitive, stone age cultures, among the hunter-gathers, when an animal was killed they recognized the spiritual connection between the animal that would feed the bodies of their hungry children, and themselves. They were grateful for the sacrifice of one life for another. In a sense, when we eat plants it is also a death and sacrifice, and in the end our own bodies "return to the earth" to be consumed, when the elements that made our bodies become part of the cycle of life of earth as a whole. I think the prayer before meals, that is an ancient rite, still practiced by many cultures world-wide, is an acknowledgement of this. After all isn't it the quality of your heart and not the food you eat that matters in the long run? So many plants, animals and fellow humans have been sacrificed in order for us to partake of the world as it is. This means that you can abstain from meat, or you can be prayerfully thankful for existence and your food.